Australia passes data retention into law

Mammoth last-ditch effort by Greens, indies knocked back.

The Australian parliament has voted to cement the Government's proposed two-year data retention scheme into law.

It today passed the Senate with 43 votes for and 16 against. The bill needs now only receive royal assent - a formality - before officially becoming legislation.

The Senate spent three full days this week debating around 30 concerns - made through 104 individual amendments - to the bill put forward by the Greens, independent MPs Nick Xenophon and David Leyonhejlm, and the Palmer United Party.

The amendments, among others, attempted to introduce provisions for destruction of data after the two years, notification for journalists whose data had been accessed, a reduction in the storage period to three months, and to enshrine the metadata list to be retained in legislation rather than regulation.

The MPs also sought to introduce a 'protected class warrant' for those alongside journalists with sensitive communications (such as lawyers), remove the Attorney-General's powers to dictate approved agencies, and introduce further oversight by the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Each was systematically voted down by the Coalition and the Labor Party.

The Government gained the Opposition's support for the bill - guaranteeing it safe passage through the Senate - after it agreed to implement 39 recommendations to the proposed legislation, including an exclusion for journalists.

Law enforcement agencies will need to apply for warrants to access a journalist's metadata for the purpose of identifying a source. All other citizen metadata will be open to access without a warrant.

Telcos and internet service providers will now have 18 months to prepare their systems and processes for the scheme, which has been forecast to cost between $188.8 million and $319.1 million to set up, and around $4 per customer per year to maintain.

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